What Is Hot Tire Pickup?
One of the most common problems with epoxy garage floor coatings is hot tire pickup, or hot tire lift. This occurs when the coating peels up or pulls away in areas where a vehicle’s tires sit.
The internal temperature of tires can become very high from driving. This causes the tires to expand slightly. When the car is parked, the heat transfers to the tread of the tires and to the epoxy coating on the floor.
After the tires start to cool, they contract slightly, which causes the tires to grab and pull out the epoxy coating. This, when combined with other factors, can pull the coating off the floor.
The two most common contributing factors are inadequate floor preparation and the use of an inferior epoxy garage floor coating, such as water-based or single component systems.
It is critical to properly clean and profile the concrete floor before applying an epoxy coating. All dirt, oil, stains, waxes, and previous coatings need to be removed. The surface needs to be profiled with powerful grinding machine equipped with metal diamond tooling. This opens the concrete’s pores and allows the epoxy to form a good mechanical bond. Epoxy does not adhere well if it is applied to a smooth concrete surface. Acid etching or power washing will are not sufficient. They will create a poor mechanical bond that can cause even a quality epoxy coating with a high heat tolerance to pull up.
Tire residue can build up and get embedded in the concrete. Tire makers use plasticizers and paraffin in rubber compounds. Plasticizers are a blend of polymer compounds that create more flexible rubber. Paraffin waxes are used for ozone protection to help the tires maintain their color and to prevent cracking.
When a tire gets hot, plasticizers and paraffin oils move to the surface of the tire and are deposited on the concrete. This residue can build up over time and prevent the epoxy from adhering to the surface of the floor.
Tire dressings have a blend of silicone agents to keep tires shiny and black. If the dressing gets on the concrete, it acts as a sealer and prevents the epoxy from sticking to the concrete.
Hot tire pickup can be prevented by aggressively grinding the floor prior to coating and using quality epoxy coatings that have a high solids content and are solvent-based.